Welcome to Fix Your Gym, a podcast dedicated to bringing you expert knowledge from fitness industry leaders, salespeople, gym owners, tech experts, and other fitness enthusiasts, where you'll learn about the latest industry trends, innovative technologies, new and current products on the market, and health and fitness news from experts across the nation. And now, here's your host, Adam Kniffin.

All right, here we go. Welcome to the Fix Your Gym podcast. Got one of my favorite people on today. One of my favorite customers, probably my favorite customer actually, not one of, but we got Monica Anwander from The Gym KC in Kansas City. And so thank you for coming on, Monica. I'm super excited to get into. We've known each other for a long time. Long time. So the conversation should flow pretty well. We can definitely get into some conversations and I definitely have enjoyed working with you for the last, you know, what, 10 years plus?

Plus, yeah. 12 or 13, 14 maybe. Yeah, it's been a while.

You guys were our first commercial customer when we had Metro Fitness Repair. It's been quite the quite the journey since then. It's been been really cool. But so so yeah, so Monica and wander from the gym, Casey, you guys have three three gyms in downtown Kansas City, some really cool gyms. And and you've been there basically since the beginning. You guys used to be

Close. Yeah, close. So I am celebrating my 18th year with the company this year. We actually started in like 1998-1999 as like a personal training studio, private personal training with our former business partner, kind of starting that up and then we opened to the public. for memberships in a very small facility. And as each neighbor kind of moved out, we kind of took over the space and expanded. And then we started picking up additional locations. Our original location was in Westport. And then we picked up our river market location in like 2005. And our Crossroads Westside location about 2007. And then in 2008, we moved our original Westport location over to kind of the Midtown area near the Uptown Theater. And we've been in those three locations since. Yeah, we did recently. Yeah, we did recently relocate the river market location about four blocks down the road, but we we still still call that a an original spot.

Yeah.

And the uptown from the basement to the from the basement to the the ground floor out of the dungeon and into the light as you. Yeah. Yeah. See the sunshine coming through. So live from my office on four wheels.

Yeah, right. the life of a gym owner. Do you own part of it or are you just managing?

I do not. I am GM, HR, depending on how much authority I need and in a given situation, I have the ability to make all the same decisions as our owner. Jonetta Stewart, who's actually my aunt, so it's kind of our family business. She's been around since, you know, pretty much the very beginning of the opening of the gym to the general public from the personal training studio. So she's got 20 plus years in the in the industry. And that's how I got in. I got a phone call that said, hey, we're looking for summer staff, you know, while you're home from college. Would you want to come work at the gym? It's like, yeah, sure. And that's going to say you have to be young.

You had to be young at that.

Yeah. How old were you when you started? I was 20 or 21 years old. Yeah.

Perfect job for a college student.

Yeah. Yeah. Scrubbing toilets and picking up weights started at the bottom and worked my way up.

Shout out to Johnetta, too. Yeah. So she's a you know, I was originally like super intimidated by Johnetta, just to be honest. But like once you get to know you guys, like you guys are all down to earth, super cool people, really relatable and stuff like that. So, you know, but So yeah, so you started out with, so it was Scott Fitness, and you guys kind of had that. Then you guys kind of split and kind of started going from there.

Yeah. So we operated as Scott Fitness until 2011. And then in 2011, John Etta's former business partner, decided to go in a different direction, and so John Etta took over the gyms as a sole owner, and we changed the name, did some rebranding, but tried to keep the heart of what we were the same.

Yeah, let's talk about the brand a little bit because I think you guys have a really interesting brand. And the kind of business model of the gym is, is now I've been to gyms across the country and I've not seen anything like what you guys have. I mean, I think the closest probably to it and it's not close is like planet fitness in a way, but it's, it's not that it's, it's totally different. Um, it's not a globo gym in any, any way, shape or form. But the brand of the gym, Casey, the name, the name kind of says it all, right? It's very simple. You know what I mean? Like, this is the gym in Kansas City, right?

And there are a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of back and forth, but When we landed on this name, we knew that was the right fit.

It makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. And that that's kind of what you guys, you know, have have kind of, you know, it explains a lot. So go into a little bit about that business model. Yeah, and tell us a little bit about that. Exactly.

So I can I can kind of give you my spiel or lack thereof. We have the three locations here in Kansas City. They are all within about a four and a half to five mile radius of each other. They are all 24 hour secure access for our members. So we use a biometric hand scanner and our members can access any of our facilities, regardless of which one they join. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Holidays, snow days, doesn't matter. That way, you're not sitting there at the door waiting for the opener and the opener's overslept. Your whole day isn't messed up if the staff can't get there or if it snows 10 feet and it's not safe for us to travel, but you want to throw on some snow boots and walk down and get your workout in, get rid of some of that cabin fever you totally can. Classes that we offer are all included. There's no additional charge for our classes. we keep it pretty, pretty simple. You know, no major fancy fluffy amenities. We've got weights, we've got free weights, you know, machines, cardio, open open floor for stretching and floor work, your bathroom showers, that kind of stuff. But you know, no additional big draw type amenities, no sauna, steam room, stuff like that. We also don't do contracts. Our memberships are no sign up fee, no cancellation fee, no annual surprise maintenance fee, no random just because it's Thursday fee. Our members on a monthly membership basis can cancel and come back as much as they want with no penalty. We require only one day's notice before an automatic billing date to cancel, which is, I don't, I've not come across any other place that does things that way. A lot of places require you know at least a 30 day notice or you know some sort of heads up or notice to cancel plus one more billing cycle or whatever the different policies are. But we truly on our monthly memberships, you call me at 11.59 p.m. the night before you're supposed to have your card charged, you're canceled, you're good to go. And that's benefited us. A lot of people are like, how can you handle the uncertainty in your projections and stuff? I'm a nerd at heart. I'm a numbers analyst kind of at heart. And so I've got almost 20 years of data that shows what our curve looks like from month to month, year to year, and can pretty easily predict those patterns. COVID's a different story. We won't talk about that. Nobody could predict that. But, you know, I can look at where we are sitting with numbers right now and predict pretty accurately where we're going to be with our numbers six months from now, a year from now, two years from now, five years from now. Yeah. We do offer kind of contract type memberships. They're prepay kind of set up, paid in a lump sum up front, and then you're locked in. But most of our members choose the monthly because of the flexibility.

Yeah. I mean, a lot of people too, like you think about like when you're joining the gym, and maybe you're just getting started in fitness and stuff. And I think a lot of people who join your gym are kind of that type of person who maybe, you know, you guys have an interesting model and we'll get into it here in a second of, you know, kind of the vibe inside of the gym. But if you're just starting and you're not really comfortable going to the gym and things like that, like, you don't know if you're going to be able to even show up next week. So I don't want to sign a year contract. Like, I'm just getting in. I don't know how disciplined I'm really going to be. I don't want to commit to a year. I'm barely committing for today. You know what I mean?

So and we have a lot of people that travel for business or have unexpected job relocations. You know, I always kind of like think back to like the the sitcoms of the 90s and the early 2000s. Like, I want to quit the gym. I just want to quit the gym. And, you know, oh, I got me to sign up for another year. Like life is unpredictable.

Yeah.

And fitness above the physical aspects and benefits. There's a lot of mental aspects and benefits as well. And that's. We should not be a stress point. Yeah. You know, we should not be a stress point. If Kansas City is famous for these giant potholes, you hit a pothole and you got to choose paying your gym membership this month or getting your car fixed. You get that. Yeah, we get that. And know that, you know, if you got to cancel this month, but you're ready to come back next month for whatever the reason is. You're always welcome. You're always welcome. And we don't ask questions. Hey, I need to cancel. Cool. You're always welcome back. Well, I'm moving. Well, that's great. If you ever move back to the area, of course, always give us a call, but we don't need a reason. Yeah, I really like that. Yeah, good.

Yeah, no, I was gonna say, I really like to to kind of go to my next point, which was, I really like the, you know, kind of the the environment of the gym. So I want to talk a little bit about that. It's not Planet Fitness, that you don't shame people or anything like that, like, in terms of, but you do have, you know, kind of a code of conduct in there. I know that the shirts you wear, say on the back, like, no meatheads and no dipshits or fewer dipshits or something like that. It's not saying that there's like no dipshits, but fewer, fewer. Yeah.

So the way I kind of explain that is, you know, it's fewer meatheads, hardly any dipshits. Yeah, that's right. Meathead is not a lifting style meat has mindset. Yeah. You know, and so like, yeah, we've got our bodybuilder types and we've got our power lifter types and we've we've got Our demographic, we're an 18 and over facility. We range in age from 18 to 87. The last count, we had over 30 different nationalities and countries represented in our population. All walks of life. All fitness levels, all walks of life. We don't want people to be intimidated to come to the gym. We want them to be able to come in and do their thing. part of our policy is we don't allow recording in our facilities. You can take pictures of yourself. You can record yourself. We don't allow tripods, microphones, camera crews, because people just want to come in and do their workout and get on, you know, get on with their day, get on with their routine, um, with all the extra and having to be worried about whether you're, you know, you're walking through somebody shot and you don't want to be in their shot or, you know, Um, things like that. Um, we are a no grunting, no yelling, dropping, slamming, throwing kind of place, but we're also not a library. We don't expect silence. Weights are heavy. They're metal. I get it. We're all adults here. And if we think somebody is pushing our boundaries on what is acceptable within our environment, we have an adult conversation about it. Um, and we realized that, you know, people may start their journey here and say, progress in power lifting to a point where they need to be able to drop on a regular basis or things like that and we're you know we may not be the best fit and we understand that but at the same time it's kind of cool that maybe somebody got started here and they found that here and they've progressed and they've come to this point where they're you know finding a niche for themselves in fitness.

Right. You deal with so many different types of people.

So many different types.

I mean, it's it's insane. So to have some sort of structure and rules that that fit your guys is kind of like core values, like and and you got you got to have that. I mean, you're dealing with so many different types of people or it becomes a absolute shit show. And it's hard.

And it's like and we are our dress code. We have a dress code. Yeah, yeah. Chest, torso. glutes and feet have to be covered. You know, there's flexibility in that. To come in and say, you know, no tank tops. No, if your chest, your torso are covered, cool, tank tops, go for it, run with it. So try to find that middle ground and like what the fashion trends are and what the function of it is while also kind of adhering to our health and safety protocols. You know, the the reason behind our dress code wasn't because we hate bodies you know we're in the body business that's what that's what we do um but helping prevent some of those kind of sanitary things um is where we kind of develop that from yeah for sure and it kind of keeps i don't know man things are

I know there's all types of different people and there's a place for everything, I suppose, but me personally, I'm not a huge fan of the gyms these days that, you know, you can go in there and work out with your shirt off and there's naked girls running around everywhere and stuff like that. It's not really a family type of environment, you know what I mean? And so that's just not my thing, you know what I mean? 

And when I get questions about like the dress code and stuff, you know, I'm the first one to admit when I'm outside of my business. I don't always follow that dress code. 

Yeah. 

You know, when I'm at my house or when I'm at, you know, at different places, like, but in inside my business to help, help keep this, the standards and the environment, um, and the culture that we've worked so hard over the last 20 plus years to build, um, you know, absolutely. 

Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, to move on a little bit, so, um, all businesses were greatly impacted by COVID. Especially you guys, you guys, you know, not only did COVID happen, but you guys went through some other things with the river market fire and stuff like that. Like you guys, when it rains, it pours. 

And I kind of, you know, was- It poured on us for a couple of years. 

Yeah. But the cool thing about struggle, is that if you can make it out the other side, you can come out a different and stronger business. For us, the struggle hasn't ended yet. It's like we came out of COVID and yeah, we're better and stronger and things like that, but it is a new world, especially in the fitness industry. But kind of go into a little bit of that struggle and kind of how you guys are trying to overcome that and your thoughts on that. 

Yeah, so you kind of touched on the River Market fire. We were victims of arson. September 1, 2018, someone broke into our River Market location and set it on fire and I walked out. learning experience. A lot of stress. That location had to be closed for about a year and a half, going through insurance and restoration and replacing equipment and getting it rebuilt. But from day one, we were going back. We weren't getting, you know, that was not going to stop us. You know, we were coming back. And so we did. We got that location reopened on February And five weeks later, got shut down for COVID. All kind of happening in the same period of time. So the fire occurred on September 1, 2018. We got called into a meeting two weeks later at our midtown location. New project, big exciting project. this building is going to be under construction for the next few years. We're going to build some apartments on top. You guys have, you know, be able to build out a new space on the ground floor, come up out of the basement. You know, it was, it was amazing, but it was happening all at the same time. And part of that conversation was, should we close that location? Should we try to relocate it? And you have to factor in like, relocating, finding a building, building it out, being there for a couple of years, moving back. So we worked really closely with the developers and the property owners and were able to stay open through a large majority of the construction. But that was a deterrent. And so we saw, you know, fire numbers decrease, we saw construction numbers decrease, we saw COVID numbers decrease. And then it all kind of opened up at the end. the build out with the new new location in Midtown happened right about the end of, you know, main COVID. So we were able to get that one reopened, you know, river market location came back. We were leasing that building at the time. And because of the unknown of the fire, we had started looking for other buildings in the neighborhood. Because we've been a part of that neighborhood since 2005. We want to stay in that neighborhood. We love that community. We want to stay a part of that community. And so you start layering all this stuff on top of each other. And whether you want to call it the fire that kind of kicked it off, COVID that kind of kicked it off, or we found a building in the river market. And we're able to find a permanent forever home there in the river market that we never have to leave. And that's, you know, as a as a business owner, you know, in leasing situations, there's always that uncertainty at the end of the lease of what's going to happen next. Yeah. But knowing that this location we are here, we're not going anywhere and getting that open and seeing the new excitement come through in that neighborhood for our new location and things has been pretty positive and uplifting.

Yeah, it's been a it's been a cool process, you know, and I'm really grateful to be able to have been in our business, been able to be, you know, part of all that.

And I am the first one to say the relocation of the uptown from the basement to the ground floor and getting the river market moved and getting that all set up. I would have I wouldn't have even known where to start if it weren't for you guys being able to, you know, jump in and offer those services and having that relationship and knowing that you were going to do the job the way we wanted the job done. Because we think a lot alike in those projects.

Yeah, after all these years, hopefully we kind of know what to expect of each other and stuff like that. There was a time of struggle for us and you stuck with us through that and we changed businesses and went through that whole process of rebuilding and all kinds of crazy stuff. Yeah, but those things, man, like they can either destroy, you know, a relationship or they can just like make them so much stronger and stuff like that. So and I think that's that's kind of what, you know, just think about the transformation over the years personally and the businesses that we're involved in. It's been a really cool process and experience. So yeah, yeah.

And I will say, you know, even through the struggles and the business transitions with Metro to Stride and everything, there was always something in you, in you guys that I wanted to stand by it. And I was going to stand by it because I knew there was light at the end of that tunnel. And, you know, I joke, and correct me if I'm wrong on this story, I was our maintenance person here at the gym for years. And I got this cold call one day from this young kid named Adam, who's like, hey, I want to come fix your fitness equipment. He's like, yeah, no, we're good. Bye. watching you after calling you guys on that first, first job that we had you do and seeing the hard work and the, the drive to succeed on that one, you know, just that one project and the integrity and the honesty and everything right there. I knew then and there, and that's, you know, and that's when that relationship started. I knew then and there that this was a relationship that we wanted to keep going.

Yeah, I think it was basically just like, Hey, we know we suck. And we almost just set your gym on fire, cutting the bolts off that treadmill. But we're gonna try really hard to, to do better if you just kind of work.

Yeah, so yeah, and and that's, you know, that, that one, that one day that one project has actually led to us seeing the value in the continued maintenance. The continued service, the staying up on those kinds of things, to keep the equipment going, to keep it from being down too long, you know, and making sure that there's eyes and ears in our facilities. all the time, checking stuff out and making sure that that that broken treadmill is getting turned over just as quick as it can. And that helps us as a business, you know, because, you know, people go, Oh, yeah, yeah, your gym, your treadmills are down for like three months at a time, four months at a time. My gym, there's is only down for like two weeks, three weeks at a time that gets quick turnover. Members like to see that they like to see that you're taking care of the facility. And and that's that's been a huge benefit to us as well.

Yeah, for sure. And I think that, you know, that move to Matrix was also really good. Yeah. You know, and I mean, if you look, if you open up your treadmills today, really, and look at those treadmills, you know, compared to like those life fitness treadmills that you had, you know, that that didn't really have like preventative maintenance or anything. And they were hard to do preventive maintenance. Anyways, you had to to get under the deck to even get to the motors and stuff, if I remember right, but yeah.

Yeah, they had to flip them over and take the belt off.

Yeah, but like the, like they're in really good shape still, you know what I mean? After what, 10, 12 years and they rarely break down.

Yeah, we put the first round of Matrix in our facilities in 2012. And we still have a lot of those original pieces and keep doing what they need to do.

Yeah, for sure. So yeah, it's been quite the process. We don't have a ton of time left, but let's see, there was one thing. So what's the future of the Jim Casey? Got any big plans that you want to reveal? Or are you just kind of chipping away one foot in front of the other type of thing?

No big plans. Yeah. I, uh, I kind of laugh and say, you know, we're always and never looking. Yeah. Always. And never looking for the next thing, not necessarily seeking out, but not necessarily saying no either. Um, you know, so are you, are you going to expand? Are you going to open another location? You know, what, you know, what's this, what's that. It's always a never, um, if, if the right thing hits at the right time, we'll jump on it. Um, but just, you know, keep trucking, keep, keep plugging along and, Making sure that we're doing the best we can to make our facilities the best we can and keep our members happy and go from there.

Yeah, you ladies are very smart. You've done well for a long time. and fought through the struggles and overcome a lot of things. And it's a tough industry for sure. It's war in the fitness industry. But you guys are consistently kicking ass and that's awesome. 

Getting shit done. That's another one of the taglines on our t-shirts. Getting shit done. 

Yeah, and definitely do that. So, um, but, uh, but, um, that's, that's really it. I really appreciate you coming on, taking the time to talk and, uh, 

The fact that we actually limited this to a time frame is quite impressive. 

That's the goal. I mean, I know gym owners and business people. That's who we're usually talking to. They're busy. They don't want to do a two-hour podcast. We're not going to do a two-hour podcast. But yeah, just get on Talkshop a little bit and then basically we'll chop it up into some reels and stuff like that and throw it out on social media and everything like that. The Jim Casey, downtown Kansas City, the jimkc.com, right? Yes. Yeah. You guys have social media? 

Yes. What do you have? I saw you on LinkedIn. Instagram. We're on Instagram at the Jim Casey. We're on Facebook. I'm on LinkedIn. Feel free to reach out there. 

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